Watercolour Swatches

Are you a fan of watercolour swatching?

I certainly am. Creating watercolour swatches is one of the best ways to learn about a particular colour. My favourite types of swatches allow me to see the colour from it’s most saturated to it’s least saturated. In other words, from very thick, strong colour to being so watery that you can barely tell what colour it was that you started with.

Many artists find their own unique way of creating colour swatches. I’ve tried a few different methods over the years, but I keep coming back to a particular style so I decided to take some time and create swatches for every single watercolour that I have of the Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolour line. Over the years, I’ve purchased so many that I sometimes forget their names or why I should consider one colour vs the other. Occasionally when I paint, I forget which turquoise I used, for example. Sometimes it is easy to tell, but at other times it isn’t. And so - with colour swatch pages, I can place the swatches over the dried painting and confirm my colour choices, when necessary. And that has been just so handy to have!

I also decided to arrange my colours on the page in a particular order that made sense to me. You can do what seems best to you. But make sure to write down the colours name right away so that you do not forget what is what. ;)

Creating swatches and/or swatching your colour mixing results is not only practical but I find it very calming and soothing. Creating these pages, especially after it’s been awhile since you had some creative time will help you to reacquaint yourself with the colours and it can act like a warm up before getting to painting what you really want to paint. It’s a bit like seeing a runner stretching their muscles before participating in a run or a track meet. Swishing that paint around is not just creative play but an act that awakens the creative brain, kickstarts your hands muscle memory and helps you to get into a creative flow. Please keep in mind - there are other warm ups that you can do as well, IF you want to do a warm up. Bottom line - it is just fun and brings me joy.

If you aren’t sure of what to do or how to get started during a painting session - just create a page of swatches and start swishing that paint around. I’m fairly certain that this process kick starts the brain somehow. Ideas start flowing. One or two colours are likely to excite you and resonate more than others. Soon you’ll want to set this sheet aside and start painting something that you are inspired to paint. And that’s really just the best!

Have you created watercolour swatches? I’d love to know in the comments. Are you interested in hearing more about it or seeing more pictures? Let me know. :)